Free Chilled in Chattanooga (A Trixie Montgomery Cozy Mystery Book 4) by Deborah Malone Page B

on her so she didn’t overdose on her pain medicine. I’d ask Dee Dee later what she thought about asking Mama to come and help.
    I nudged her and pointed toward Nana. “Looks like she’s about to flake out on us.”
    “I heard that,” Nana said. “I might be half asleep, but I’m not deaf. Anyway, I’m just looking at the back of my eyelids.” Laughter floated around the table.
    The waitress, laden down with food, approached our table. “Here ya’ go.” She served our delicious looking meal. “My name is Lisa. I hope you enjoy your food and let me know if you need anything.” She sashayed across the room. Oh to be so young.
    When our appetites were satisfied, Dee Dee sat back and wiped her mouth. She voiced my thoughts. “Trix, what are we going to do now that Detective Sams took our list?”
    “Make another one. It shouldn’t take long.” Dee Dee retrieved her tablet and pen. In a matter of minutes we had a new list.
    At times, a groggy Nana would revive and make a comment. We debated who we should visit first and decided on Lori Wilson. I remembered she lived in Chattanooga or close by.
    “When we get back to the room I’ll look up her name on my laptop.” We finished our meal by ordering strawberry shortcake. We helped Nana back to our room and settled her in bed before heading out to interview Lori. I discovered she lived in Hixon right outside of Chattanooga.
    It took us about twenty minutes to find her home. Thank goodness for a GPS. As Nana would say, “one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread.” It was a pretty little area. Her house was a modest ranch style home reminiscent of the 60’s and 70’s architecture and located on lakefront property.
    The same pretty face I remembered opened the door. “Hello, Trixie, come on in.” She led us into a living room filled with antique furniture. Dee Dee’s eyes bugged out.
    “Wow, this is a treasure trove, Lori.” I thought I saw Dee Dee lick her lips. Being the owner of an antiques store, the wheels of her collector’s brain were hard at work. “Sarah, my assistant at the store, would have a heyday in here.” She explained to Lori about her shop, Antiques Galore.
    It was time to get down to business. “Lori, how well did you know Annie?” I noticed a fleeting expression of fear and then it was gone.
    “Uh, why do you want to know?”
    There was no reason to beat around the bush so I opted for the direct approach. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m a person of interest in her murder. That really means I’m a suspect and according to Detective Sams, I’m the main suspect.” Her eyes popped open and her mouth formed an O. There was no mistaking a moment of fear.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “We need your help if we’re going to clear Trixie’s name,” Dee Dee said.
    Lori fumbled around, found a remote control and turned off the television. “I don’t know how I can help. I really didn’t know Annie that well.” She averted her eyes when she said she didn’t know her. I didn’t believe her.
    “I remember her saying you looked familiar. I thought you might have met her and just didn’t remember.”
    Faster than a chameleon changing colors, she transformed from a composed young lady to a ranting female.
    “Look, you want the truth?”
    Even though I wasn’t so sure anymore, I nodded my head.
    “I’ll give you the truth. I don’t care if that old bat is dead. She was my brother’s teacher in college. Leonard was about to graduate when she failed him in English. He didn’t have enough credits to walk with his class. He’d already invited his family and friends to the celebration. She was some wannabe writer who just couldn’t cut it in the real world. So she took it out on her students.”
    Tears rolled down her bronze cheeks. “He was devastated. Not graduating with his class was the last straw and he started drinking again. He had a problem when he was a teenager, but he’d gotten back on track